Yale 1963
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Jerry Kenney receives the Yale Blue Leadership Award.
It is a tremendous pleasure to report that our classmate Jerry Kenney will be honored at the Blue Leadership Ball in New Haven on November 22, 2013 (the night before the Harvard Game) with the George H. W. Bush ’48 Lifetime of Achievement Award. The Yale Athletic Department’s presentation of the Lifetime of Achievement Award honors alumni athletes who, in their lives after Yale, have made significant leadership contributions in their worlds of governance, commerce, science and technology, education, public service, and the arts and media. Each honoree is chosen by a broadly representative alumni Honors Committee, based upon the candidates’ lifetime leadership contributions in their respective fields. All have been graduated for more than 20 years and exemplify Yale’s rich athletic heritage as an important component of the undergraduate experience. The awards are presented at the bi-annual Blue Leadership Ball the night before the Yale/Harvard football game, an event that brings together over 700 alumni and friends of Yale athletics. Jerry Kenney is eminently deserving of the Blue Leadership Award. Jerry has had an outstanding career in the business world. He started on Wall Street with a mid-sized firm, White Weld, which was acquired by Merrill Lynch in 1978. Jerry assumed responsibility for building an institutional business at Merrill from a fledgling start. Over the next 16 years Merrill built up the No. 1 equities and debt business and investment banking underwriting business, surpassing Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and the leading international competitors. After Stanley O'Neal became CEO of Merrill, Jerry moved on to BlackRock, which was a 50% owned Merrill affiliate, as a senior executive and adviser to the CEO and Executive Committee. Jerry had previously had engineered the sale of Merrill's large asset management business to BlackRock, more than doubling BlackRock's size while adding mutual funds, equities and international capabilities. Jerry strongly recommended that BlackRock buy Barclays Global Investors following the 2008 market meltdown, enabling BlackRock to become the largest, most diversified asset manager worldwide. Jerry has been equally outstanding in leadership roles in the Yale community. He has been a member of the Yale Development Council for 30 years, and a member of Sterling Fellows since it was established. Jerry has been a member of our Class Council for 25 years, and was Co-Chairman of the 40th and 50th Reunion Gift Committees. He was a major contributor to the renovation of Saybrook College, and a major proponent of revamping the Yale School of Management and building a distinctive building to house it. Together with his brothers, Jerry has funded the Kenney Center at the Yale Bowl as well as other Bowl renovations. Jerry has done extensive research on collegiate athletics and has met with Presidents Levin and Salovey, among others, on ways to improve Yale athletics while strengthening Yale. In short, although Jerry himself would be too modest to admit it, he is an outstanding recipient of the Blue Leadership Award. Many of us will wish to be at the Blue Leadership Ball to see Jerry receive this richly deserved honor. To order your tickets for the Blue Leadership Ball, and also tickets for the Harvard Game the next day (including lunch at the Kenney Center), please click on the following link: https://ivy.yale.edu/alumni_registration/register/for_event/11723 The Yale Athletic Department has confirmed that they will seat together those of our classmates who attend the Blue Leadership Ball and the Harvard Game, so that this will in effect also be a mini-reunion for our classmates -- a very fitting sequel to our very successful 50th Reunion. I hope that many of you can be there to honor Jerry Kenney and to enjoy each other’s company. Guy Guy Miller Struve Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP 450 Lexington Avenue New York, NY 100172 -------------------------- George H.W. Bush '48 Lifetime of Leadership Award The Blue Leadership Ball & Presentation of the George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Achievement Award The Yale Athletic Department's presentation of the George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award honors alumni athletes who, in their lives after Yale, have made significant leadership contributions in their worlds of governance, commerce, science and technology, education, public service, and the arts and media. The Award has been named in recognition of George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States of America, as the living epitome of one who has successfully and selflessly committed a lifetime to address the diverse global leadership demands of his generation. Each honoree is chosen by a broadly representative alumni Honors Committee, based upon the candidates' individual lifetime leadership contributions in their respective fields. All have been graduated for more than 20 years and exemplify Yale's rich athletic heritage as an important component of the undergraduate educational experience. The awards are presented at the bi-annual Blue Leadership Ball the night before the Yale/Harvard football game, an event that brings together over 700 alumni and friends of Yale Athletics. Jerry served for many years as Vice Chair of Merrill Lynch. At Merrill he was responsible (among many other things) for leading the Merrill’s international investment banking / institutional brokerage effort. Before Jerry took over, Merrill was known as a retail house and had little presence in the international investment banking institutional space. Jerry is fond of recalling that he used this experience as a “scout team” football player to build his business. He studied the competition – saw what they did right and analyzed their weaknesses. I have it on good authority that Jerry sensed that most of his competitors were good at sales, but deficient in delivering timely, concise, and thoughtful investment advice to busy CFOs who made information based decisions. He also sensed that many of his competitors were not particularly good at information processing. As legend has it he found a very bright but somewhat brash young man recently departed from one of the prominent brokerage houses. Jerry sensed potential in this man, decided that he did not “fit” the Merrill temperament, but that he could deliver what Jerry needed, so Jerry persuaded Merrill that it was wise to give this man “lunch money” to help him start an information processing company – in return Merrill got an equity stake. That man is of course “Mayor Mike.” Under Jerry’s leadership Merrill’s investment banking / institutional brokerage division became the largest in the world. Jerry benefited from this success and contributed generously and effectively to organizations he believed in – particularly Yale and Yale Athletics. Jerry and his brothers contributed the Kenney Center, a magnificent addition to the Yale Bowl that has a wonderful team room, as well as the “Champions Room” and sky box – where many alumni gather in the fall to watch Yale football. More recently Jerry has been engaged in working with the Yale administration in reenergizing the role of varsity athletics as an important part of the University’s program. Typically he studied the “competition;” Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Northwestern, and determined that excellence in academics is closely related to excellence in athletics – a somewhat surprising discovery, that is now transforming the administration’s view of athletics. Like many of us, Jerry was deeply affected by the crash of 2008. As Jerry remarked in his class notes, almost 50 billion dollars ($50,000,000) of Merrill’s capital was lost in this debacle and senior executives like Jerry saw their life’s work and fortune disappear. Undaunted, Jerry joined BlackRock and asset management business that he had “incubated” while at Merrill. BlackRock started as a Merrill subsidiary with only 5 employees. Since Jerry joined the firm his strategic vision has helped BlackRock become the largest asset management firm in the world. Blackrock’s success has enabled Jerry to resume his eleemosynary activities and his contributions to Yale. He has been threatening to retire since 2005, but fortunately for Yale these threats have proven empty. We congratulate Jerry on his well-deserved kudos. ------------------------ follow up note from Jerry: Ian, You are an incredible friend. So willing to see and articulate the best side of colleagues. So quick to pass on good news about them. So articulate and creative in highlighting others’ accomplishments, while being so modest about your own. I always enjoy seeing and speaking with you and learning from you. And I’m grateful you’re such a good friend. I do want to correct a statement in your accolades involving BlackRock.. I was the lead person in hiring and setting up Mike Bloomberg and his company which is now reportedly worth around $30 bil; and in the company’s first 5 years, Mike did work solely for my business group at Merrill. However, I did not start BlackRock, headed by Larry Fink. We did raise money continuously for BlackRock as an embryonic manager and we later took them public, I was a senior executive working with them; I engineered the merger of ML Asset Management with BlackRock making it a leading mutual fund and international asset manager while becoming a 50% owned ML affiliate. And, as a an employee and senior adviser to BlackRock, I strongly recommended that it acquire Barclays Global Investors in ’09 making BlackRock by far the largest asset manager worldwide. Thus, I’m pleased to be one of many contributors to BlackRock’s success, but would not claim a primary role played by its superb management. Kindest personal regards, Jerry
It is a tremendous pleasure to report that our classmate Jerry Kenney will be honored at the Blue Leadership Ball in New Haven on November 22, 2013 (the night before the Harvard Game) with the George H. W. Bush ’48 Lifetime of Achievement Award.
The Yale Athletic Department’s presentation of the Lifetime of Achievement Award honors alumni athletes who, in their lives after Yale, have made significant leadership contributions in their worlds of governance, commerce, science and technology, education, public service, and the arts and media. Each honoree is chosen by a broadly representative alumni Honors Committee, based upon the candidates’ lifetime leadership contributions in their respective fields. All have been graduated for more than 20 years and exemplify Yale’s rich athletic heritage as an important component of the undergraduate experience. The awards are presented at the bi-annual Blue Leadership Ball the night before the Yale/Harvard football game, an event that brings together over 700 alumni and friends of Yale athletics.
Jerry Kenney is eminently deserving of the Blue Leadership Award. Jerry has had an outstanding career in the business world. He started on Wall Street with a mid-sized firm, White Weld, which was acquired by Merrill Lynch in 1978. Jerry assumed responsibility for building an institutional business at Merrill from a fledgling start. Over the next 16 years Merrill built up the No. 1 equities and debt business and investment banking underwriting business, surpassing Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and the leading international competitors. After Stanley O'Neal became CEO of Merrill, Jerry moved on to BlackRock, which was a 50% owned Merrill affiliate, as a senior executive and adviser to the CEO and Executive Committee. Jerry had previously had engineered the sale of Merrill's large asset management business to BlackRock, more than doubling BlackRock's size while adding mutual funds, equities and international capabilities. Jerry strongly recommended that BlackRock buy Barclays Global Investors following the 2008 market meltdown, enabling BlackRock to become the largest, most diversified asset manager worldwide.
Jerry has been equally outstanding in leadership roles in the Yale community. He has been a member of the Yale Development Council for 30 years, and a member of Sterling Fellows since it was established. Jerry has been a member of our Class Council for 25 years, and was Co-Chairman of the 40th and 50th Reunion Gift Committees. He was a major contributor to the renovation of Saybrook College, and a major proponent of revamping the Yale School of Management and building a distinctive building to house it. Together with his brothers, Jerry has funded the Kenney Center at the Yale Bowl as well as other Bowl renovations. Jerry has done extensive research on collegiate athletics and has met with Presidents Levin and Salovey, among others, on ways to improve Yale athletics while strengthening Yale.
In short, although Jerry himself would be too modest to admit it, he is an outstanding recipient of the Blue Leadership Award.
Many of us will wish to be at the Blue Leadership Ball to see Jerry receive this richly deserved honor. To order your tickets for the Blue Leadership Ball, and also tickets for the Harvard Game the next day (including lunch at the Kenney Center), please click on the following link:
https://ivy.yale.edu/alumni_registration/register/for_event/11723
The Yale Athletic Department has confirmed that they will seat together those of our classmates who attend the Blue Leadership Ball and the Harvard Game, so that this will in effect also be a mini-reunion for our classmates -- a very fitting sequel to our very successful 50th Reunion. I hope that many of you can be there to honor Jerry Kenney and to enjoy each other’s company.
Guy
Guy Miller Struve
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP 450 Lexington Avenue New York, NY 100172
--------------------------
George H.W. Bush '48 Lifetime of Leadership Award
The Blue Leadership Ball & Presentation of the George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Achievement Award The Yale Athletic Department's presentation of the George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award honors alumni athletes who, in their lives after Yale, have made significant leadership contributions in their worlds of governance, commerce, science and technology, education, public service, and the arts and media.
The Award has been named in recognition of George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States of America, as the living epitome of one who has successfully and selflessly committed a lifetime to address the diverse global leadership demands of his generation. Each honoree is chosen by a broadly representative alumni Honors Committee, based upon the candidates' individual lifetime leadership contributions in their respective fields. All have been graduated for more than 20 years and exemplify Yale's rich athletic heritage as an important component of the undergraduate educational experience. The awards are presented at the bi-annual Blue Leadership Ball the night before the Yale/Harvard football game, an event that brings together over 700 alumni and friends of Yale Athletics.
Jerry served for many years as Vice Chair of Merrill Lynch. At Merrill he was responsible (among many other things) for leading the Merrill’s international investment banking / institutional brokerage effort.
Before Jerry took over, Merrill was known as a retail house and had little presence in the international investment banking institutional space.
Jerry is fond of recalling that he used this experience as a “scout team” football player to build his business. He studied the competition – saw what they did right and analyzed their weaknesses. I have it on good authority that Jerry sensed that most of his competitors were good at sales, but deficient in delivering timely, concise, and thoughtful investment advice to busy CFOs who made information based decisions. He also sensed that many of his competitors were not particularly good at information processing. As legend has it he found a very bright but somewhat brash young man recently departed from one of the prominent brokerage houses. Jerry sensed potential in this man, decided that he did not “fit” the Merrill temperament, but that he could deliver what Jerry needed, so Jerry persuaded Merrill that it was wise to give this man “lunch money” to help him start an information processing company – in return Merrill got an equity stake. That man is of course “Mayor Mike.”
Under Jerry’s leadership Merrill’s investment banking / institutional brokerage division became the largest in the world. Jerry benefited from this success and contributed generously and effectively to organizations he believed in – particularly Yale and Yale Athletics. Jerry and his brothers contributed the Kenney Center, a magnificent addition to the Yale Bowl that has a wonderful team room, as well as the “Champions Room” and sky box – where many alumni gather in the fall to watch Yale football. More recently Jerry has been engaged in working with the Yale administration in reenergizing the role of varsity athletics as an important part of the University’s program. Typically he studied the “competition;” Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Northwestern, and determined that excellence in academics is closely related to excellence in athletics – a somewhat surprising discovery, that is now transforming the administration’s view of athletics.
Like many of us, Jerry was deeply affected by the crash of 2008. As Jerry remarked in his class notes, almost 50 billion dollars ($50,000,000) of Merrill’s capital was lost in this debacle and senior executives like Jerry saw their life’s work and fortune disappear. Undaunted, Jerry joined BlackRock and asset management business that he had “incubated” while at Merrill. BlackRock started as a Merrill subsidiary with only 5 employees. Since Jerry joined the firm his strategic vision has helped BlackRock become the largest asset management firm in the world.
Blackrock’s success has enabled Jerry to resume his eleemosynary activities and his contributions to Yale. He has been threatening to retire since 2005, but fortunately for Yale these threats have proven empty.
We congratulate Jerry on his well-deserved kudos.
------------------------
follow up note from Jerry:
Ian,
You are an incredible friend. So willing to see and articulate the best side of colleagues. So quick to pass on good news about them. So articulate and creative in highlighting others’ accomplishments, while being so modest about your own. I always enjoy seeing and speaking with you and learning from you. And I’m grateful you’re such a good friend.
I do want to correct a statement in your accolades involving BlackRock.. I was the lead person in hiring and setting up Mike Bloomberg and his company which is now reportedly worth around $30 bil; and in the company’s first 5 years, Mike did work solely for my business group at Merrill. However, I did not start BlackRock, headed by Larry Fink. We did raise money continuously for BlackRock as an embryonic manager and we later took them public, I was a senior executive working with them; I engineered the merger of ML Asset Management with BlackRock making it a leading mutual fund and international asset manager while becoming a 50% owned ML affiliate. And, as a an employee and senior adviser to BlackRock, I strongly recommended that it acquire Barclays Global Investors in ’09 making BlackRock by far the largest asset manager worldwide. Thus, I’m pleased to be one of many contributors to BlackRock’s success, but would not claim a primary role played by its superb management.
Kindest personal regards,
Jerry
